CATCH ALL THE ACTION: Fans wishing to watch No. 20 Cal State Fullerton at Pepperdine on Wednesday, can catch the action on www.PepperdineSports.com. Live stats will also be available, and the Titans will provide an audio broadcast available on www.FullertonTitans.com.
Two of the Titans' three games at TCU this weekend will be televised. Friday's series opener will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest+ (FSSW+). Saturday's game will be aired on Fox College Sports (FCS). Please check your local listings. In addition, www.gofrogs.com will offer a web video stream (subscription required) of all three games. Live stats will also be available. Links are available on the baseball schedule page at www.FullertonTitans.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow @BaseballTitans for daily updates during the 2013 season.
CSF vs. PEPPERDINE • ALL-TIME SERIES
First Year Played/Last Year Played: 1975/2012
Overall Record: 55-41
Current Streak: Won 1
Overall Conference (SCBA) Record: 19-13
NCAA Regional Record:5-2
NCAA College World Series Record: 1-1
Overall NCAA Postseason Record: 6-3
Home Record: 32-17
Road Record: 18-22
Neutral Record: 5-2
Longest Winning Streak: 4 games, 4 times (5/1/01 to 3/4/03)
Longest Losing Streak: 8 games (4/6/90 to 3/16/94)
Extra Innings: 2-1
Most Runs Scored in a Game: 30 runs (4/26/80)
Most Runs Scored in a Game by Opponent: 15 runs, 2 times (last on 2/23/97)
Largest Margin of Victory: 25 runs (4/26/80)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 11 runs (3/18/08)
PEPPERDINE NOTES: Similar to Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine opened the 2013 season with a 4-0 record. The Waves swept a four-game series with Western Michigan, outscoring their opponents, 35-10. Pepperdine batted .351 in the series, while the Waves' pitching staff held Western Michigan to a .187 average.
Left-hander Matt Maurer, scheduled to start against the Titans on Wednesday, made two appearances over the weekend, pitching a total of two shutout innings and striking out three.
Pepperdine's Sam Meyer led the Waves offensively and was named the West Coast Player of the Week. Meyer hit .467 (7-of-15) with three doubles, a home run and eight RBIs in helping Pepperdine to its first 4-0 start since 2001.
VERSUS PEPPERDINE: Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine have met 96 times dating back to 1975. The Titans hold a 55-41 advantage in the all-time series, but the Titans have a losing record (18-22) against the Waves on the road. Pepperdine is one of seven opponents on Fullerton's 2013 schedule that reached the 2012 NCAA Regionals.
The programs played each other just once in 2012, with the Titans acquiring an 8-6 victory at Goodwin Field. Greg Velazquez's eighth inning single tied the game at 6-6 and Anthony Trajano's double punched down the right field line brought home the go-ahead run in the Fullerton win.
The Titans had to play come-from-behind three times to beat out the Waves. Closer Michael Lorenzen was called on trailing 6-5 for just the second time in a non-save situation - and delivered a scoreless 1.1 innings to earn his first career win. Aaron Brown, the fourth of five Wave hurlers took the loss by giving up all three of the Titans' eighth inning runs.
CSF vs. TCU • ALL-TIME SERIES
First Year Played/Last Year Played: 1987/2012
Overall Record: 12-7
Current Streak: Won 2
NCAA Regional Record: 1-0
Overall NCAA Postseason Record: 1-0
Home Record: 7-5
Road Record: 4-2
Neutral Record: 1-0
Longest Winning Streak: 5 games (3/12/87 to 2/22/08)
Longest Losing Streak: 3 games (2/21/09 to 2/26/10)
Extra Innings: 1-0
Most Runs Scored in a Game: 11, 2 times, last (2/26/12)
Most Runs Scored in a Game by Opponent: 11 runs (2/22/09)
Largest Margin of Victory: 6 runs (2/22/08)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 7 runs (2/28/10)
TCU NOTES: No. 22 TCU (0-3) was slept on opening weekend in Oxford, Miss., as Ole Miss took all three games from the Horned Frogs. TCU was outscored 11-4, as the offense was held by the Rebel pitching staff to a .194 clip. The TCU pitching staff held Ole Miss to a .202 clip, but it was not enough as the Horned Frogs were outscored 11-4. TCU was swept for the first time since the 2008 season when Wichita State won all three meetings in Wichita, Kan., March 14-16, 2008. The sweep was just the third in the Jim Schlossnagle era. The first time it happened came in 2004 at Southern Miss.
TCU is one of seven opponents on Fullerton's 2013 schedule that reached the 2012 postseason, and one of three that reached an NCAA Super Regional.
VERSUS TCU: No. 22 TCU and No. 20 Cal State Fullerton are meeting one another in a three-game series for the sixth consecutive season dating back to 2008. The Titans hold a very slim 8-7 advantage in the series (since 2008) winning series in 2008 (2-1; Fort Worth), 2011 (2-1; Fort Worth) and 2012 (2-1; Fullerton). The Horned Frogs were victorious in 2009 (2-1; Fullerton) and 2010 (2-1; Fullerton). The 2013 season will also mark the fourth consecutive year the Titans will play TCU with the Horned Frogs holding a top-25 ranking: 2010 (No. 11), 2011 (No. 4) and 2012 (No. 15).
Last season, Cal State Fullerton defeated TCU, 11-10, in the final game of the series to clinch the series victory. Michael Lorenzen, Carlos Lopez and Keegan Dale combined for 10 of the Titans' 13 hits and drove in a collective seven runs to help Cal State Fullerton beat No. 15 TCU at Goodwin Field. The Titans earned their first series victory of the year and won their first home series against the Horned Frogs since their annual series meetings began in 2008. The game ended after eight innings due to a curfew set for TCU's travel.
VERSUS THE BIG12: The Titans hold a 43-35 advantage all-time against teams currently in the Big 12 Conference: Baylor (4-2), Iowa State (2-0), Oklahoma (4-4), Oklahoma State (3-4), TCU (12-7), Texas (17-17), Texas Tech (1-1).
TITAN CONNECTIONS: Kirk Saarloos (assistant coach TCU), spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, putting together a 77-38 (.670) record and winning two Big West titles in 2011 and 2012. As a pitcher at Fullerton, Saarloos racked up a school-record 127 appearances over his four seasons (1998-01) in a Titan uniform. As a senior in 2001, he went on to earn first-team All-American honors and was named the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year
DAVIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore J.D. Davis helped Cal State Fullerton win four straight to open the 2013 season, batting .438 with 11 RBIs to claim Big West Baseball Player of the Week accolades.
Davis led the team in hits (7) and RBIs while posting an .875 slugging percentage as CSF defeated USC, Nebraska twice and CSU Bakersfield. He had a double and two home runs to go along with a pair of walks in a very productive week.
The designated hitter exhausted Nebraska pitching in Saturday's 10-5 and 9-0 doubleheader sweep. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and the game-winning run scored in game one, fueling the Titans' three-run seventh inning with an RBI single that tied the game. Davis later came around to score for what proved to the game-winning run.
The Titans jumped all over the Huskers early in game two as Davis laced a two-run single in the first. He finished the game with a 3-for-4 effort, scoring twice and driving in a pair, including the game-winner.
Closing out the week at CSU Bakersfield in an 8-2 triumph, Davis launched two bombs and drove in six runs. He became the first Titan to hit two round trippers in a game since Nick Ramirez at Cal Poly on April 23, 2011. Davis struck early again with a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning, and put the game out of reach with a fifth inning grand slam over the center field wall.
OPENING WEEKEND: Cal State Fullerton moved up two spots in this week's Baseball America Top 25 poll after opening the season with a 4-0 record, recording wins over USC (3-2), Nebraska (10-5; 9-0) and CSU Bakersfield (8-2). The last time Cal State Fullerton opened its season against USC was a 13-6 win on Feb. 5, 1979, beginning what would prove to be the first season the Titans' captured one of their four NCAA Division I Baseball national championships. Cal State Fullerton also had not won a season opener since a 7-6 win over TCU in 2009.
The Titans' 4-0 start is their best since 2007, when the team opened the year with five consecutive wins.
The Titans crowd of 3,508 vs. USC last Friday was its largest at Goodwin Field since April 22, 2007 vs. Pacific.
ROOKIE ARMS: Right-hander Thomas Eshelman tossed six shutout innings in his Titan debut vs. USC last Friday. The native of Carlsbad, Calif., struck out six and allowed two unearned runs. Eshelman was the first freshman to start a season opener for the Titans since Feb., 1987 when Mark Beck took the mound at Saint Mary's.
In game two vs. Nebraska on Saturday, right-hander Justin Garza tossed six shutout innings in a 9-0 victory over the Huskers. Garza allowed just two hits and issued just one walk in his debut.
Thirteen pitchers appeared on the mound for Cal State Fullerton last weekend, and of those 13 pitchers, 11 were underclassmen (6 freshmen, 5 sophomores.)
AT THE PLATE: Last weekend, Cal State Fullerton batted .313 as a team, and outscored its opponents 30-9. The Titans drove in 29 runs on 40 hits, and recorded nine extra-base hits (5 doubles, 4 home runs). The Titans were also aggressive on the bases, stealing eight of their nine attempts, led by Carlos Lopez (3-for-3).
The Titans finished the weekend with three players batting above .400 led by J.D. Davis (.438), Lopez (.429) and Matt Chapman (.417).
PICKED TO WIN IT: Cal State Fullerton was picked as the favorite to win the 2013 Big West title as selected by the 10 conference head coaches that voted in the Big West Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll, it was released by the league on Jan. 31.
The Titans were voted to defend their Big West title as the program garnered nine of the 10 available first-place votes.
Fullerton, winner of the past three league titles, captured the 2012 league crown with a 17-7 mark, one game ahead of Cal Poly. Fullerton has won 10 conference championships in the Super Regional era (dating back to 1999; 14 years), sharing the titles with Nevada in 2000 and Long Beach State in 2008.
TITANS AND THE BIG WEST:
Overall, Cal State Fullerton has totaled 26 conference championships dating back to 1975, including 10 in the last 14 years. With last season's title, the Titans made their 34th postseason appearance as well.
Overall, Cal State Fullerton has posted a dominant 672-235-2 (.741) conference record over 38 seasons. Rick Vanderhook, the school's fifth Div. I head coach, won his first Big West crown in 2012, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Augie Garrido (14 conference championships), Larry Cochell (1), George Horton (7) and Dave Serrano (3).
A further breakdown has the Titans winning three PCAA conference championships (1975-76, 1987), eight straight SCBA titles (1977-84) and 15 while playing under the Big West name (1990-91, 94-95, 1997, 1999-2001, 2004-06, 2008, 2010-12). The Big West absorbed the PCAA records in 1990 upon its formation, giving the Titans 18 total Big West championships and a 499-189 (.725; 30 years) PCAA/Big West Conference record.
WATCH LIST: Michael Lorenzen was one of 75 players named to the initial watch list for the ninth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Lorenzen was one of two players from the Big West Conference named to the list as UC Irvine's Race Parmenter also made the watch list.
LORENZEN PRESEASON HONORS: Michael Lorenzen returns to the diamond after an All-American season in 2012. Lorenzen has received four preseason All-American selections entering 2013. He was projected as the National Player of The Year by Collegiate Baseball, and was named to the 13th annual NCBWA Preseason All-America second team as well as the Perfect Game Preseason College All-American second team. Most recently, he was selected to the 2013 Baseball America Preseason All-America second team.
Lorenzen, who garnered All-American honors as well as Big West Conference First Team accolades in 2012, developed into one of the nation's top two-way players, starting 57 games in center field while making 20 appearances on the mound. Lorenzen did not allow a run in 18 of his 20 appearances. He garnered double first-team All-Big West Conference honors as a utility player on offense, and as a closer on the pitching staff. His 16 saves in 17 chances tied him for second in program history with Nick Ramirez (2011) behind only Scott Wright's school record of 22 saves in 1984.
HOME GROWN: Thirty-four men on the Titans' 35-man roster list their hometown within the great State of California. The lone Titan not from the Golden State comes from, where else? Nebraska. Sophomore southpaw Tyler Peitzmeier is from Yutan, Neb., a city about 25 miles east of the Mecca of college baseball, Omaha.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: In 2013, the Titans will play seven opponents that advanced to the 2012 Division I Baseball tournament (Oral Roberts, Pepperdine, Texas A&M, San Diego) three opponents that advanced to the super regionals (Oregon, TCU) and one opponent that advanced to the College World Series (UCLA)…CSF will play four opponents that finished 2012 ranked in Baseball America's Top-25 (No. 5 UCLA, No. 11 Oregon, No. 16 TCU, No. 19 Texas A&M)…six of Fullerton's opponents were ranked in the top-50 of the NCAA's final top-50 2012 RPI ratings (No. 1 UCLA, No. 6 Oregon, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 29 Pepperdine, No. 31 TCU, No. 36 San Diego )...four of CSF's opponents were also conference champions in 2012: Pepperdine (West Coast), TCU (co-Mountain West), Oral Roberts (Summit), UCLA (Pac-12).
CONTINUED EXCELLENCE: The Titans have won 30-plus games in each of its 38 seasons at the Div. I level and are tied for third in the nation when it comes to most consecutive 30-win campaigns. The only Titan team to win as few as 30 games was the 1989 squad skippered by Larry Cochell. The Titans have never had a losing season at the Div. I level. Fullerton comes in tied for third with Clemson and behind Arizona State and Miami. Pepperdine, which was ranked No. 5, saw its 32-year streak ended in 2010.
Consecutive 30+ win seasons (active)
1. Arizona State 50
2. Miami, Fla. 42
3. Cal State Fullerton 38
Clemson 38
THE ROOKIES: Cal State Fullerton's 2012 class was ranked the No. 23 recruiting class in the nation, according to Baseball America's annual evaluation.
Under second-year head coach Rick Vanderhook and recruiting coordinator Mike Kirby, the Titans have welcomed 13 freshmen to Goodwin Field. Fullerton's 2012 class ranks second amongst Big West Conference opponents as the Gauchos were ranked 12th with 23 newcomers including 19 freshmen and four junior college transfers. The Titans and Gauchos were the only BWC programs to make the top 25.
DRAFT DODGERS: Nine Titans on the current roster have been selected previously in the MLB First-Year Players draft. Carlos Lopez is the only Titan that has been drafted while at Fullerton. He was selected as a redshirt his sophomore year (based on his age), but declined the offer made by the Detroit Tigers in 2010.
TITANS IN THE DRAFT (by round):
J.D. Davis 2011 5th round Tampa Bay Rays
Michael Lorenzen 2010 7th round Tampa Bay Rays
Austin Diemer 2011 26th round Cleveland Indians
Justin Garza 2012 26th round Cleveland Indians
Jake Jefferies 2012 34th round Washington Nationals
Carlos Lopez 2010 37th round Detroit Tigers
Anthony Hutting 2009 38th round Texas Rangers
David Olmedo-Barrera 2012 40th round Oakland Athletics
Chad Wallach 2010 43rd round Los Angeles Dodgers
TOP 50 FRESHMAN: Ontario, Calif., native Justin Garza was ranked ninth by Baseball America in the publication's evaluation of the top 50 freshmen in college baseball released in early February.
TOP 50 SOPHOMORES: Matt Chapman, 2012 Big West Freshman of the Year, was ranked 18th by Baseball America in the publication's evaluation of the top 50 sophomores in college baseball released in early February. Chapman was also rated by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect in the Big West Conference for the 2014 MLB Draft. J.D. Davis was considered the fifth-best prospect in the Big West for the 2014 draft.
TOP 50 JUNIORS: All-American Michael Lorenzen was ranked 19th by Baseball America in the publication's evaluation of the top 50 juniors in college baseball released in early February. Lorenzen was also rated by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect in the Big West Conference for the 2013 draft.
TOP 50 SENIORS: Senior shortsop Richy Pedroza was ranked 45th by Baseball America in the publication's evaluation of the top 50 seniors in college baseball released in early February. Pedroza led the Titans batting .324 in 2012.
FAMILY AFFAIR: The Titans have six players on the 2013 roster that have had family members play for Fullerton in the past:
• Outfielder Anthony Hutting is the cousin of former Titan star and major league outfielder Aaron Rowand (.345, 23 HR, 121 RBI from 1996-98).
• Infielder Richy Pedroza's older brother, Sergio, was a national champion outfielder for the Titans (.328, 27 HR, 121 RBI from 2003-05).
• Outfielder Austin Kingsolver's father, Kurt, was a national champion catcher in 1979 (.291, 5 HR, 30 RBI in 1979) and was a teammate of College Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Wallach.
• Catcher Chad Wallach's father, Tim Wallach (.392, 39 HR, 182 RBI), was a national champion, a Golden Spikes Award winner, and a first-round draft pick in 1979. Chad's older brother, and Tim's eldest son, Matt, was also a Titan in 2005 (.255, 5 HR, 28 RBI in 2007) and played first base like his father. Tim is currently entering his third year as the third base coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Pitcher Dave Birosak's brother, Dustin (0-0, 2.89 ERA), was a relief pitcher for the 2007 Titans.
• And to top it all off… Head Coach Rick Vanderhook has had two nephews, Russ (.500, 0 HR, 0 RBI in 1999) and Cory (.304, 1 HR, 17 RBI in 2006) play in a Titan uniform. Coach Vanderhook, himself, was a player in 1983 and 1984. Cory is currently serving as an undergraduate assistant.
• Freshman right-hander Joe Navilhon's father (Larry) played at Cal State Fullerton from 1979-1980.
• First baseman Carlos Lopez and right-handed pitcher Michael Lopez are of no relation.
TITANS IN THE BIG LEAGUES: The Titans have had 52 former players ascend to the major leagues since their first products, Dan Whitmer and Tim Wallach, got there in 1980. Erik Komatsu got the call in 2012, taking last year's totals to nine: David Cooper (Toronto), Reed Johnson (Chicago Cubs/Atlanta), Erik Komatsu (St. Louis/Minnesota), Mark Kotsay (San Diego), Brett Pill (San Francisco), Kurt Suzuki (Oakland/Washington), Justin Turner (New York Mets), Vinnie Pestano (Cleveland) and Ricky Romero (Toronto). For the second consecutive year, Romero was named one of 30 nominees for the 2012 Roberto Clemente Award as announced by Major League Baseball. Pestano was named this year's recipient of the Bob Feller Man of the Year Award, as announced by the Cleveland chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The distinction is bestowed upon the organization's player or executive who consistently performs at the top of his game.